Gerald Graff grew up loathing books which is ironic because he majored in English. Graff is an English professor at the University of Illinois and wrote the essay “Disliking Books.” Graff received his PhD in English and American Literature from Stanford University. He feels that his childhood struggle with reading gives him an advantage as a teacher to help his students who struggle in reading.
Graff grew up as a middle class Jew who lived in a racially blended Chicago neighborhood. His dad, who loved reading, tried to impress this habit upon his son, who refused to read anything but comics and sports novels. In one incident Graff recalls that his father locked Graff in his room until he finished reading Magellan. When this incident did not